Ralph Lauren Inspired: DIY NAUTICAL DRAPES

Before we officially moved into our new house one year ago I had all of these grandiose plans to bang out room after room makeover!

Umm…insert REAL LIFE here.

Just reading that first sentence makes me laugh.

However, I must pat myself on the back that I have painted a few rooms (ok ONE!). The other rooms I have started to paint and will finish one day! I have general ideas of how I want each room to look, but as we all know it’s a long process.

One of those rooms is my three year old son’s. I originally wanted his room to have a pirate theme. But the more I thought and thought about it, I just wasn’t sold. I am not a huge fan of themed kids rooms. They grow out of things so fast and the last thing I wanted to do in a couple years was change his room again. Plus, I don’t even truly know if the kid likes pirates! I kept coming back to a preppy Ralph Lauren inspired room (navy, red, cream). The colors are timeless and classic. Sold.

The project that got my creative juices flowing for his room were his drapes. I have nicknamed these “MacGyver Drapes.” Remember him? The secret agent able to solve complex problems with everyday materials he finds at hand, along with his ever-present duct tape and Swiss Army knife? Well, these drapes are made from an IKEA drapery panels, scrap pieces of drop cloth and Christmas ribbon!! No joke.

The navy IKEA panels we had measured 57″w x 98″h. I actually needed panels that measured 102″h and because of that 4″ difference, the “MacGyver Drapes” were born!

1. I threw the panel on the floor (literally)

2. I measured and cut the drop cloth at 30.5″h x 59″w (you want to allow at least 1″ on each side to wrap around the existing panel for a nice clean edge) I just came up with the 30.5″ height of the band after looking at it on the floor and thought this size looked nice and substantial.

3. WARNING: Please look away if you are a freaky good sewer!! Obviously I am NOT, but that’s where the red Christmas ribbon comes in! Next step is to sew the canvas drop cloth onto the panel.

4. That was painful to look at…now quickly get out that ribbon and cover the nasty sewing job!!

That’s better!

I simply sewed this ribbon straight down the middle where the drop cloth meets the drapery panel.

5. I sewed the ribbon on top and bottom.

You should be left with a 1″ raw edge on both sides of the panel. I simply wrapped the edge around the back of the panel and sewed along the sides. You can see in the above picture the “line” down the panel.

This is FAR FAR from a perfect sew job, but “perfect” does not exist (at least in my world). Not to mention, these drapes are for a VERY active 3 year old boy’s room! If they get trashed (I’m already counting the days) it won’t hurt me a bit.

Instead of using normal brackets, I used plumbing parts and old shower curtain rod. I sprayed all of these with flat black paint and a coat of spray poly once dry.

2 – galvanized iron floor flanges (1/2″ opening)

2 – galvanized steel nipples (1/2″ diameter, 2″ long)

2 – galvanized malleable iron tees (1/2″ opening)

Source: The Home Depot

1. Screw the floor flange into a stud at the height you want your drapes. Since my drapes were now 102″ long I attached these flanges at 100″ and allowed for a 2″ puddle on the floor.

2. Insert the 2″ steel nipple (I can’t believe I just wrote that) into the flange until secure.

3. Next attach the iron tee onto the nipple until secure and level.

You should now be left with a cute industrial looking drapery bracket!

Here is how they look in my son’s room: